"The idea that you cannot build an important tech company outside of Silicon Valley is 'a crock of shit'."
Fred Wilson
Ignore Everybody Social Project
Tonight I had the pleasure to be a guest speaker along with Bill Nussey of Silverpop at the Shotput Ventures weekly dinner meeting. I gave an updated version of my "Startups in 12 Quotes" presentation. It was actually titled "Startups in 12 Quotes". The reason for the change is at the end I pulled out my recently finished copy of Ignore Everybody and read three choice quotes from the book. And then I announced the Ignore Everybody Social Project.
You see I took Hugh MacLeod up on his secret evil plan to get a signed copy of the book. True to his word he sent it and thus I have two copies. I am quite sure the intent of this promotion was to create a pass along effect. I just decided to formalize the pass along of my copy.
Here's the deal. I gave my unsigned copy to Nelson. It is well marked with the passages that I found of interest. It has my name and the date I completed reading it on the inside cover. I instructed Nelson to:
- Mark his favorite quotes in the book.
- Put his name and the date he completed it on the inside cover.
- Pass the book along to someone else who agrees to participate in the project.
- Come to this post and leave a comment with his fav quote from the book and the name of the person he passed it along to.
- Rinse and repeat.
We will do this until Shotput's demo day where the book will be passed along to the next participant. It would be really cool if we could get one person from each Shotput company to participant before then.
We will then go through steps one through four again among the broader Atlanta startup community. At that point we will have a unique community created social object.
Rock on.
Quote of the Week
"The rich keep getting richer because they keep doing whatever it was that made them rich. Ditto for the poor."
Neal Boortz
July Event Roundup
I first did this type of post last month and some received positive feedback. So here we go again. Even though it is July lots going on. And since we are celebrating freedom this month I thought it would be good to talk a bit about (mostly) free things.
Angel Investing For Entrepreneurs
Knox Massey of the Atlanta Technology Angels is putting on a short program to help Georgia based entrepreneurs understand the basics of angel investing—from an investors viewpoint. These are taking place on July 8 and 23 from 12 – 2. You can learn more here. Free.
CapVenture
CapVenture is a unique ATDC education program that equips
early stage (typically those seeking their first institutional round of
financing) CEO's and executives for smarter and more productive
capitalization of their business. Final applications
are due July 15. The program runs from run from August 25th to
September 29th and concludes with an investor forum and a shot at
getting involved with Venture Atlanta. Not Free.
Atlanta CEO Council
The Atlanta CEO Council provides entrepreneurs, C-Level executives,
investors, and selected services partners to participate in an
exclusive networking environment. Exclusive being a key word (one of the beenies ATDC companies receive is access). Their next shindig on at the Ritz on July 20 at 5:30. Free.
Convince and Convert: How to Pull More Prospects Into and Through the Sales Funnel
Stacy Willams the president of Prominent Placement invited me to a Webinar July 21 from 2 – 3. Stacy is a SEO guru and when she talks I listen. Given that getting customers is a pretty darn important thing to be focusing on you should too. Learn more here. Free
Social Media Camp
Atlanta did not make the cut for the official Social Media Club Summer Tour. But I want one. Others seem to be doing their own. We should too. Not free. It will take effort. Who wants to play?
Startup Marketing
Over in my Skribit widget "startup marketing" seems to be a quite popular subject. I have written several posts on the subject. Below is a roundup.
Creep Don't Leap. Your startup marketing effort should be scaled slowly.
The Best PR. Make sure your employees are happy and empower them to do the right thing for the customer.
Marketing Is Not A Department. To do successful startup marketing every employee needs to make
decisions from the beginning with the potential customer in mind.
Positioning. A quite powerful marketing concept that every startup should proactively manage.
Markets Are Conversations. Listen. Talk.
Your Brand Promise. Just a fancy way of saying what unique value that you
are delivering to the market.
Brand Identity. The unique set of associations that you aspire
to create for your startup.
Yes Master (The Only Brand Strategy For Startups). Early stage technology companies should only implement a master brand strategy.
Quote of the Week
“Build a company for the long term. Control your own destiny.”
In his presentation Term Sheets 101 below.
The Liquidity Event Proceeds Calculator, developed as a joint project between the Atlanta Technology Development Center and Siavage Law Group, is a nice tool to figure out the affect a funding round might have on your particular situation.
Phone Call Number 9
Was to Mike the AT&T field technician who called to check on things after he upgraded the throughput on my service and left his cell phone number as a call back.
I called him around noon. Told him my saga in trying to get a wireless gateway. Asked him if he had one on the truck that he could drop off. Mike said sure. Asked me if I would leave the wrong ones on the porch. Told him I was a little hesitant to do so because I feared that I would be billed for them. I needed some evidence that they were returned. Calling customer service did not seem to be very effective.
Mike was cool. He said OK.
And about 4 hours later he showed up at my house, ring the doorbell, and handed the gateway to my wife.
Good job Mike. Thanks for helping me out.
The AT&T Saga Continues
Remember Nina. That lady I thought was a god send. She’s a liar too.
My wireless modem never showed up on Friday.
Gotta give AT&T a little credit though. Mike showed up. I speed tested the AT&T service on Friday morning. Maxed out at 3Mbps. I signed up for 6Mbps. So I had to call technical support (my fifth AT&T call in this ordeal). It was about 7:30 am. They made me run an AT&T speed test. Like the SpeakEasy speed test was wrong.
Told me they were going to send out a tech. Gave me a window of 8 – 12. Gave them my cell. I’m going to work. Mike shows up at around 9:10 am. Abby is still home. Checks the outside equipment. Says he has to get some stuff. Goes away.
I go away. Have a fun weekend.
Come home Sunday night. Speed check. 6.2Mbps down, 435Mbps up. $32.95 a month. Rock on.
Abby checks voice mail. Mike called over the weekend. Upgraded the service. Left his cell phone number in the event we had any issues.
But remember, my wireless modem never showed up on Friday. So I called customer service (call #6) on Monday, cause AT&T’s convenient for them customer service hours are 8 to 7 on weekdays. There was no record of an order. Lady places another order for the wireless modem. Tells me it will be here by Tuesday.
Tuesday comes and goes. No wireless modem. I am really not surprised. The rep that promised me that it would be here was not able to provide me with a tracking number. Was not able to send me a tracking number when I asked if she would do so via email when it was available. Automated package tracking notification seems a bit beyond AT&T’s capabilities thus far in the 21st century.
So I called customer service (call #7) on Wednesday morning, cause AT&T’s convenient for them customer service hours are 8 to 7 on weekdays. Guy tells me he needs to transfer me to another queue. Puts me on hold for a bit. Comes back asks me to wait. Puts me on hold for a bit. Comes back and tells me to call back later. They are too busy. Gives me a specific number to call and tells me to call back later. When I tell him the number he gave me is the same number I called. He is dumbfounded. Tells me to call the number and select option #4.
I wait a few hours. I called customer service (call #8). There is no option #4. It is all voice activated. Get Ray. Nice lady. She can actually provide a tracking number. Wireless modem to be delivered today. The anticipation is killing me.
Got home tonight. Package is here. The anticipation is really killing me. Open the box. Wrong modem. It is the same silly single computer modem they sent when they slammed me, I’m sorry, activated my service without request.
I could not make this stuff up if I had to. But I might start a business selling unused AT&T modems on eBay.
Before I do that, I am gonna give Mike a call on his cell phone tomorrow. That will be call number 9. And this whole thing is starting to sound a little bit like that Beatles song.
How I Spent Father’s Day Weekend
It started with a little run down the Chattooga (where Deliverance was filmed) and then a nice hike up 4,700′ Rabun Bald. You can clickie to see the Bull Sluice sequence. Jack tried to stand up and yelled “Cowabunga” and we about lost our guide Nate.
Ignore Everybody Except Hugh MacLeod
I am about a third of the way into Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. It’s supposed to be a book about being creative. But it is much more then that. If you read it through the eyes of an entrepreneur that wants to change the world it is brilliant. Or in the spirit of the book, totally f-ing amazing. Not the tactics of making your venture successful, but the strategy of making your life successful. Here are some gems from the first 11 pages:
GOOD IDEAS ALTER THE POWER BALANCE IN RELATIONSHIPS. THAT IS WHY GOOD IDEAS ARE ALWAYS INITIALLY RESISTED.
Your idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours alone. The more
the idea is your alone the more freedom you have to do something
amazing.
Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort and stamina.
If somebody in your industry is more successful then you, it’s probably because he works harder at it then you do. Sure, maybe he’s more inherently talented, more adept at networking, but I don’t consider that an excuse. Over time that advantage counts for less and less. Which is why the world is full of highly talented network-savvy, failed mediocrities.
Being good at anything is like figure skating – the definition of being good
at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy.
Ever. That’s what stupidly wrong people conveniently forget.
Hugh’s writing is based on his own experience as a creative type. Back in 1997 he started doodling on the back of business cards. Seems like kinda a stupid idea. But it was his idea. And he worked it. Made it work.
Buy the book, borrow the book. Do whatever you can to read the book. Lacking your ability to do that go read the blog post on which the book is based.
Best way to sum up the book is the way Hugh did. “Work hard. Keep at it. Live simply and quietly. Remain humble. Stay positive. Create your own luck. Be nice. Be polite.”
Rock on.